Portraits – Thirteen: A Social Enterprise

For the second year in a row I visited the Parkdale Food Centre to make portraits for a new batch of thirteen youths.

The “Thirteen” is a social enterprise for youth under the Parkdale Food Centre in Ottawa. The year-long project is an entrepreneurial training program for teens aged 14-18 with help and support by a team of mentors and other local entrepreneurs. The profits from their sales go toward their education. (Paraphrased from their website).

Parkdale Food Centre isn’t your typical food bank. It holds courses and approaches food on an educational and nutritional basis. Their co-ordinator made headlines last year when she said “no thank you” to boxes of Kraft Dinner and other items that promote and unhealthy and unsustainable lifestyle. I have neighbours that both volunteer for, and receive from Parkdale food, and helping their youth program is one of the ways I support their endeavours.

Working with the kids was a lot of fun, and while they’re all pretty familiar with photos and selfies, for many of them, this was the first time that someone had professionally taken their portrait. We used three lights and shot tethered so they could see the results as they came in. We wrapped up with a group-photo and I gave a quick talk about running my own photography business.